First, thanks so much for the attention my last blog got, it's my most viewed blog to date, the only one that's close is my Thancred blog last year! It's awesome to see that my crazy ideas resonate!
It's been too long since I did a blog, and I'm really wrestling between two major blogs, so I was going through my computer and found my old Bingo Card for Dawntrail. It's not a bad list in my opinion, and just thought I'd share it. Sort of showing where my mindset was going in to it around 6.55 :) I will admit though that I changed out one of them because I think a lot of them are good ideas, but I think an old one in there may still come true and I don't want it to.
So yeah, here it is!
It's fine that I didn't get it, but it does sort of illustrate where my headspace was during my hype for Dawntrail. Boundless possibilities, after all. :) So, I'll go over them, and sort of have a retrospective now that it's been about a year. So I'll go in order, top to bottom, left to right.
-Ga Bu was always sort of the focus of the Tempering storyline in the Hydaelyn/Zodiark Saga, and seeing the primals being used the way they were meant to be used in Endwalker was some fantastic closure as we took off on the
Ragnarok. So I thought it'd be kind of poetic if he sort of took up the art and joined up with the Sons of Saint Coinach. :) I know Yoshi-P is a bit weary of Allag, and I don't blame him necessarily, but it is central to so much.
-Hildibrand dodging bullets and Pursuing the Truth just seemed funny. A bit obvious, but that kind of made it even funnier to me. But nothing I could have thought up holds a candle to Hard-Boiled Hildibrand. :P
-The G-Warrior is like the latest that we've seen in Ironworks Technology, and since the story of Garlemald and the Moon are so interlinked, I'm curious to see if that can come to fruition. Still haven't cleared the Loporrits storyline or started the Cosmic Exploration just yet so can't say if it's not true, but we'll see.
-During the finale of the Blasphemies role quests, it was fantastic to see the leaders the Grand Companies united. Fourchenault was honestly jarring at first, but it came from a perspective that he had done nothing to this point - which WAS part of the story, that his 'indolence' was at an end. So given they're part of the world stage again, no longer 'above' the hurts of Eorzea, and the Final Days are no longer impending, it stands to reason, you know? That goes for Temple Knight and Resistance Grand Companies as well, but it'd be cool to see just how Sharlayan intimidated Garlemald. :P
-There's a lot built up for the First during Growing Light. The through-lines for the plots with Light and Dark culminated in Ryne and Gaia, as well as the First and the Thirteenth. Plus Unukalhai and Cyella are keen to return to the Thirteenth as well. But considering the barrier is held up essentially by pylons that can be kicked over, plus not everyone is a fan of the Light (take, for instance, the Children of Everlasting Night), there's cause for concern that Light and Dark will be at each other once more.
-I think Thancred's mentor could be an interesting character to meet. And given he was born in Limsa, and Y'shtola was taught by Archon Matoya, Bikke as Thancred's mentor could be interesting to see juxtaposed, this Archon of Espionage, based on another FFI character.
-I thought Halmarut's face was the Arcadion emblem, but, as a future blog will elaborate, I think it may have a bit more to do with a different Convocation member.
-The Goblins were called the Illuminati. We're across the sea in the New World.
-This was before I knew about Shaalaoni. This is one of them that did come true. I really enjoyed Red Dead Miqo'te lol
-Another Shaalaoni 'Wild West' trope I thought would be played up a bit.
-Azem's become this symbol to us, we practically treat him the way a beast tribe might treat a primal, no? (I want to go into my Azem theories so badly, but I don't think actually deciding on his name would be good for people's headcanons. I just really really like my own)
-We never actually got an aetheryte to create a sense of 'permanence' in the Thirteenth, and an imbalance feels kind of inevitable. Instead this time around we got the Storm Surge, which G'raha pointed out was 'very similar' to an Ardor when we first met Queen Sphene in Heritage Found. (Does make me curious what will happen now to the Ninth now... Especially without a Calamity of Light to counter the recent Calamity of Darkness)
-His ideals are inviolate AND invincible. Not to mention everywhere he's sent us so far has had an entrance to another reflection.
-There was a side quest in Labyrinthos that had to do with a faction that opposed the Students of Baldesion, and I forget what they were called. It was a quest in Sharlayan Hamlet, I remember that. Anyway, this was before I knew who Koana was, and I thought perhaps they weren't allied with the Students, which would add more credence to oppose him as well as this potential invader who turned out to be Zoraal Ja.
-I just want my bro to be happy. This is an opportunity to raise a point about Y'shtola, btw, Thancred is very much a brother to my character after starting in Ul'dah, and in the past I went into how it felt like his feelings of 'trust' that he spoke to Zero about after the Aetherfont leaned into this idea that has been following him since the loss of Louisoix, that he's trying to step up but, competent though he is, he's never good enough. So yes he's 'Dadcred', but he's not the WoL's dad, you know? And so the emphasis that Y'shtola's a 'mother' figure to us is okay, but not my mom. I already had a mother, and her name was Hydaelyn. (Blogs 11-15 for more Y'shtola opinions)
-I had just finished the Forbidden Lands (Took so long). But learning about Emmerololth, but also knowing he was alive in time for the Ascians' council in 2.X, well after the disappearance of the Isle of Val, suggests he's still in play. And Krile may have a score to settle, given she was the sole survivor. Krile's still got some room for an Ascian rival, I think it could still work.
-Just a fight on a train was what I really wanted, and we did get that against the sentries on the way to Vanguard. Won't check it off, but I liked that scene a lot.
-I don't think I talked about this too much, but if you pay attention to the dialogue in the scene between the old Circle members when having the meal at the Last Stand, you'll notice that Thancred hasn't thought of his future because he never thought he'd live this long.
(which is an undercurrent in his storytelling that I loved in Endwalker, he was the one who sympathized Fandaniel perhaps more than anyone, even if G'raha Tia 'understood' Fandaniel best. Thancred attacked Meteion first after all, and lamented he didn't even get a scar. He wanted to go out with a bang, and in Dawntrail I think Urianger is helping him come to terms with looking forward to an open sky, rather than living up to an impossible standard and grieving for the rest of his life. And only Urianger COULD understand his pain... I miss 'em, guys. Anyways!)
Meanwhile, Y'shtola used the word 'change' several times in that scene. Stasis and Change, Light and Dark? Goes back to my thoughts about Ryne vs Gaia. If it comes to it, obviously Thancred will protect Ryne from another bloody Ascian, and as would Y'shtola obviously, but it's clear that of all characters, Y'shtola and Thancred are going on the most opposite paths.
-I had this thought about how the Echo is a remnant of the Unsundered World, triggered at the reminder of the Final Days - be it from the Battle of Silvertear Skies, or the Battle of Carteneau, or Elidibus' illusion during 5.3. But if the old world is gone, would we put it past either the Ascians or Venat's faction that we were sort of sacrificial lambs? There is no hope at the end of creation, after all, according to her. I had this idea that can sort of play off of the existence of the Resonant, of how the Echo 'rings', like sort of transcending the body and spirit to witness moments, but it being framed almost like tinnitus. It sounds really silly, but the Echo is a part of what makes us significant, and if we just 'have it' still, like we had with the vision of Bakool Ja Ja releasing Valigarmanda, what's the cost?
-THIS. This is going to be a whole blog. Remember Turalism?! They put so much thought into which Scions paired to buy their summer attire with whom, and we still haven't met up. I miss the Scions, and as much as I'm happy we got to see some of them, I wish there was a genuine full scene, set aside time for multiple cutscenes, of everyone enjoying the beach!
-The Twelve passed on their spinning mobius strip in the sky to humanity, and we left it behind in the hands of the Sharlayans. But it's on Frontier land. Another PvP map to claim it? Or perhaps the End and the Beginning step up to reclaim the Heavens like the Omega Protocol Savage Raid.
-We're doing something with the key and the Crystal now as of 7.2, but Azem's Crystal is really the main source of our strength right now, just as the Crystals of Light were in ARR, and eventually again in HW.
-The Moon is the culmination of humanity's knowledge now, and Nero has teased going to the moon twice, once in Garlemald and once during the Tataru Endeavor questline when visiting Werlyt. Not to mention, notice how many times Nero is framed with the moon throughout ARR?
-Finally, given how we barely saw Mamool Ja, we are basically the same in Tuliyollal, given so few have visited the New World since the journey is so taxing. Makes our arrival there unique, now that it's been at minimum 2 years since ARR started (going by the timeline in E.E. Volume 1)
Hope that was a fun read. Can't wait for 7.3. Most of all, I want the Gold of Dawntrail to return, since Purple's taken over so much lately.
See you all on the Trail!
